1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new and useful mounting device for electrical connectors and associated wiring, and in, particular, to a new and useful mounting device for electrical connectors of a first type and electrical connectors of a second type and for associated wiring therebetween. Accordingly, a general object of this invention is to provide new and improved devices of such character.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The mounting device of this invention, together with its associated connectors and wiring, provides a termination system for telecommunication devices.
In various prior termination systems, incoming trunks were extended, usually underground, from a central office to a distribution frame, usually located in a basement or other utility area of an office building. The incoming lines were then fed to second terminal blocks located in individual floor riser closets for connection to the associated key telephones by way of switching and signalling equipment also located in each closet which operated in conjunction with the key telephones to selectively provide multi-line connection and the associated functions of holding, ringing, lamp lighting and the like.
Inasmuch as the terminal blocks in switching and signalling equipment were located in the aforementioned floor closets, and as each key telephone required a multiplicity of conductors for each line connectible thereto, and its associated functions for holding, ringing, lamp lighting and the like, and as the key telephones were located at various positions throughout the building, it became readily apparent that a great deal of time and expense was involved in installing "raw" cable which, by way of example, usually comprised 25 pair solid conductor color coded insulated cable between the second terminal blocks and the key telephones throughout a building.
The use of permanent or semi-permanent connections, including lugs and insulation piercing terminals, such as provided by the Western Electric 66A or 66B terminal blocks, gave rise to an additional problem concerning the flexibility of prior systems. For example, if four incoming lines were available, and a key telephone had access to two of the four lines, for an access to be altered to three available lines, additional connections had to be individually and physically performed at the terminal blocks. This problem was compounded when one of the original two lines was not to service a key telephone.
This meant that the function conductors associated with the line required disconnection. With personnel changes in customer's facility, and with changes of customers, maintenance of the connection system may become a problem. Also, when a customer acquires additional floor space, or shifts personnel to different areas of a given floor space, the function conductors associated with each key telephone must be disconnected and/or connected to different terminals of the terminal blocks. This requires additional installation and maintenance time for the termination system, not to mention interference with the subscriber's business activities.
One solution to this problem is described in the United States patent application of Arie Verhagen, Ser. No. 480,852, filed June 19, 1974, entitled "Modular Interchange Termination System," such application, now abandoned and continued as Ser. No. 736,030, filed Oct. 27, 1976, being assigned to the common assignee of this application.
In the Verhagen application, a modular interchange and termination system includes a terminal block for receiving the incoming lines to an office building from a telephone central office. This terminal block is to be located in a utility closet of the basement or other utility area of the office building. Individual lines are then extended upwardly through the building through risers which are located adjacent to an elevator shaft for distribution to different floors of the building. The modular interchange termination system described therein could be located in closets located on each of the various floors which serves the key telephones about the respective floor of the building. Inasmuch as any floor of a building may have a single customer or may house several customers, raw cable is extended from the modular interchange termination system to specific locations of a floor for connection to the individual telephone instruments. Such is a permanent type wiring and usually extends through conduits in the floor, walls and/or ceiling. The raw cable is connected to the termination system by means of separable connectors having the necessary number of individual contacts.
The heart of the modular interchange termination system, as described by Verhagen, includes modules having a plurality of programmable contacts which may be selectively interconnected by means of plug-in jumper connections. The contacts of each module are arranged in horizontal and vertical rows which bear similar indicia in the form of color coding to aid in the identification of individual lines which bear corresponding color coding and thereby ease installation and maintenance.
The modules associated with different types of equipment includes the incoming lines, the switching and signaling equipment, and the key telephones.
The first module, as described by Verhagen, is termed a "green field" which is associated with the incoming lines and connected thereto by a separable connector and the terminal block. The green field is connected to one or more modules, hereinafter called the "red field."
Each red field receives the incoming lines from the green field, extends the incoming lines to the switching and signaling equipment via a cable having a separable conductor, and extends the telephone function lines to one or more third modules, hereinafter called a "blue field." Each incoming line served by a red field may be selectively connected to one or more key telephones by plug-in jumper conductors to a blue field.
Each key telephone is connected to the contacts to a vertical row of a blue field. Therefore, the accessibility of any particular key telephone to an incoming line is readily accomplished by merely jumpering with plug-in conductors from the contacts of the red field associated with that line to contacts in a vertical row of the blue field associated with the key telephone. Each key telephone is connected to the respective contacts of a vertical row of a blue field by way of a separable connector which is interchangeable with the other separable connectors associated with the other key telephones. Therefore, a telephone may be disconnected from a vertical row of the blue field and a telephone at a different location may be connected to that row to accommodate relocation of personnel.
The separable connectors between the green field and the terminal block and between the red field and the switching and signaling equipment provides additional flexibility for the system in that a quick disconnect and reconnect may be made so that service personnel may perform tests in either direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,056 to Ayer, issued June 25, 1974 to the common assignee of this application, discloses apparatus for connecting multi-conductor cables. In Ayer, each of first connector elements has a selected group of first cable conductors connected thereto. Groups of first connector elements are mounted at an angle with reference to a longitudinal axis of an enclosure, so that a group of second connector elements mated therewith, and which have their respective cables leading thereto through end-opening covers, have those cables diverging sufficiently from the enclosure to give clearance for the next adjacent group of second connector elements.
In accordance with a preliminary novelty search performed on behalf of the applicant, the following United States patents of interest were found:
______________________________________ Patentee U.S. Pat. No. ______________________________________ Dobbratz et al. 2,768,333 Schwing 3,088,055 Smith et al. 3,173,062 Vlaminck 3,376,542 Mullin et al. 3,573,373 Blake et al. 3,665,112 Everhart 3,758,729 Thompson et al. 3,761,771 Taylor 3,909,505 ______________________________________
Dobbratz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,768,333 show a master panel which can include spaced parallel longitudinally extending stringers, rigidly secured together by spaced locating plates and a series of spaced identifying plates. The locating plates are disposed at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the stringers, so as to facilitate the leading of wires therethrough and down to the identifying boards. Their master panel is located at a selected desired point and between rafters or studding in a floor, ceiling or wall, and hence the stringers can be spaced apart a distance equal to the space between the wall studding.
Schwing U.S. Pat. No. 3,088, 055, discloses a combined electric device supporting chassis and wiring channel for panel mounting, including a wiring channel formed between two generally parallel sides which are joined by a base. One of the sides of the channel forms a device supporting surface for mounting of electric devices. Circuit wiring, connected to the devices, extend therefrom around the free edge of one side of the channel. Flexible means are supported from one side of the wiring channel across the opening between the sides. The flexible means have apertures therein to allow the circuit wiring to extend from the devices into the wiring channel formed between the sides.
Smith et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,173,062, disclose an elongated terminal strip, which is mounted in a plastic frame, having flanges. A series of conductors are mounted behind the terminal strip, and are connected to the individual terminal units.
Vlaminck, U.S. Pat. No. 3,376,542, discloses a telephone terminal block having snap-on connector strip. The block comprises a base attached to a support surface, at least one connector strip removably mountable, in snap-on fashion, on the base, and a multi-terminal plug adapted to be mated with the connector strip. The conductors of a pre-installed telephone cable are connected to the terminals of the connector strip prior to the strip and a grommet-held end portion of the telephone cable is mounted on the base; the multi-terminal plug, also prewired to a telephone conductor cord, is mated with the connector strip. A snap-on cover, having ribs on the inside surface thereof to secure the end portion of the cable to the base, is placed over the base, enclosing the connection strip and plug.
Mullin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,573,373, disclose a cable terminating system for key telephone closets which involve a standardized arrangement of terminal blocks in functional groups on size-coordinated backboard modules. The backboards are equipped with factory-mounted brackets, each of which snap mounts a connector block. The functional groups include several such backboards with snap-mountable, removable connector blocks. The backboard sizes, bracket spacing and connector block lengths are such that, as the closet is built up with backboard modules, the connector blocks fall in continuous vertical lines; and corridors occur between the main groups and also between adjacent rows of blocks. The corridors and their spacing are defined in part by the positioning and spacing of the backboard brackets, which is effected at the factory. The backboards are modules in a building block system which allows an installer to tailor-make each closet and to provide for orderly expansion and growth of the closet. In addition to their prepositioned brackets, certain of the backboards also include prepositioned tapered finger guides which serve to lead the jumper wire from one corridor into an intersecting corridor. The mounting bracket further includes an interior passage which contains and isolates the lead-in cables, which creates cable runs which are continued from one backboard to its neighbor as the closet is built up. The space between brackets thus is made available exclusively for the jumper leads, to simplify jumper tracing.
Blake et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,665,112, disclose a system of telephones, including two multi-set series. One circuit of the first series may be connected to a circuit of the second series, in order to form sets that are common to both series. Blake et al. disclose a four-wire multi-line telephone set for sending and receiving priority or non-priority calls which set includes a plurality of line termination circuits programmable by plug and socket connections for various modes of operation, whereby the lines connected to the set may be individually connected to a switching center either separately or in parallel with lines of other multi-line sets, or the lines may be individually connected directly to lines of other multi-line sets. A plurality of relays and associated logic circuits of the multi-line set establish separate transmit and receive paths for each line and conference connections between the lines connected to the set, or between lines of a plurality of multi-line sets.
Everhart, U.S. Pat. No. 3,758,729, relates to a line card circuit for a telephone system that operates to permit each of a pair of physically distant subscriber stations to exercise full control over a telephone circuit. The telephone system includes a pair of subscriber stations each having a key telephone unit that is equipped to have a corresponding line card circuit. The line card circuits are both connected to a central office via the telephone circuit formed by a pair of conventional line conductors. The line card circuits are further interconnected for dual station control and include circuitry that is responsive to ringing signals for enabling simultaneous ringing at both telephone stations. Further included in each line card circuit is circuitry to permit both subscriber stations to exercise full supervisory control over the telephone circuit, for example, by placing or answering calls at either subscriber station and placing the line conductors in a hold condition or removing the cnductors from such hold condition. Also included is circuitry which provides for the simultaneous display of visual indicators at both subscriber stations.
Thompson et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,761,771, disclose a terminal board, there preferably being a separate board connectable to each severed end of a cable and interconnected by a patching cable. The board is equipped with rows of closely spaced solderless terminal strips, each connected to a separate contactor of the patching cable coupling. The terminal strips are anchored cantilevered fashion to either edge of the board with their free ends projecting therebeyond and notched to guide a sheathed conductor into a slit effective to cut through the sheath and firmly grip the conductor proper. The board is notched in planes aligned with the conductor gripping slit and sized to provide substantial strain relief for the conductor in a zone closely adjacent to the terminal strip. In one construction, the solderless terminal strips are arranged in closely spaced rows along either side of the board with one of the rows used to grip "tip" conductors and the other row being used to grip "ring" conductors of the many pairs of such conductors in a severed cable. Each of the related pairs of tip and ring terminal strips is connected to a selected contactor of a separable coupling by which the terminals of one board are connected to the associated pair of terminals of the other severed cable end by a patching cable.
Taylor, U.S. Pat. No. 3,909,505, discloses a series of elongated connector units raised above the surface of a back panel, including holes in the side of the unit, through which wires may pass through a channel for carrying cables behind the unit. The units are designed to carry electrical components, such as a relay. In general, Taylor suggests a modular assembly for mounting and interconnecting, by means of electrical conductors, a plurality of relays and other electrical components used in association with control panels or other wiring installations, with modules of the assembly forming integral wiring ducts when positioned in a side-by-side relationship on a plane surface.